Lazy 2

I got in a lazy 2 miles this morning in some light rain to get my first 100 mile month since August!!  This morning was actually a bit of a breakthrough.  With the doldrums I've been in lately I would've found some excuse to NOT get in 2 miles on the last day of the month.  I would have rationalized some seemingly good reason not to get it done, but I didn't.  I got out there and got after it, even if it was only 2 miles.  I'm really quite amazed how little soreness I have today after doing nothing but lunges, pushups and sit ups at bootcamp yesterday morning. I thought my legs were gonna be torn up but they're not.

January 100 miles

Lost running

Got lost today in the Barton Creek greenbelt and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I headed up on the Toys r Us trail and wound round and round and got off on some trails I've never been on before. What a joy that was, traipsing around on new trails in my 13th year running the greenbelt.  I'm gonna make it a point to do more exploring, and I'm gonna volunteer to lead some people new to the trails on the main trails so they can fall in love like I have!!  11 miles today btw!!!!

Chilly Saturday

Misty and I walked 7 miles in the Barton Creek greenbelt this morning.  It was windy and cool but we warmed up the longer we walked.  We started and ended at the 360 access.  We are walking it together in sections so Misty will be able to navigate the entire thing herself in May for Rick's Run.  She's feeling more comfortable each time we go out.

Lead legs

I made it around the 7 mile loop this morning without walking.  I seriously did not think I could do it.  Our time was 1:13 and change.....not too shabby considering I had bad lead legs from Tuesday bootcamp.
Come to think of it, today's run is actually encouraging.  I was ABLE to do the run in 1:13 even though I was still achy and sore.

Imagine the possibilities after several months of bootcamp!?  I'm gonna keep working!!

Bootcamp tracking

This morning was my first day of bootcamp.  It was leg day and I worked it hard enough for my adductors to be SCREAMING now!!!  The instructor is a pretty cool cat and I think it's gonna be very beneficial for my running and overall fitness.  I guess my anal ass needs to keep a running total on # of bootcamp days too!!!

Miles with Misty

I think I'm going to add a gadget on my blog to track my "Miles with Misty".  
Today's 7 mile walk with Misty gives me 73 miles for the month.  30 of them have been with Misty.  It seems we've started a pattern so I may as well track it.  It'd be a pretty cool to be able to know how many miles we've walked together 5 or more years from now!!!    

Old chums

Two old chums.... Mark L, Steve F. and I ran the 7 mile loop at LBL this morning in 1:08:48!!  I'm super happy with this time.  It's been a long time since I've done any "fast" running like this so I didn't really know what to expect.  And I didn't feel like I held them back too badly.

I made the decision to join the bootcamp craze with Misty.  She's loving it and I know it'll improve my running. If I'm really going to get serious about doing Cactus Rose getting my entire body in shape is going to be very important!!

130 miles!!

Very easy and relaxed 7 miles this morning at LBL.  I think my relatively new Cascadia 6's may be getting broken in now (130 miles)!!!  They did not fire up my neuroma this morning.  Of course I'll want to push them a bit further than that to know for sure but if a shoe is going to flare it up it usually happens in 4-5 miles.  I sure hope they are good now.  That will keep me from having to buy a pair of shoes again very soon!!!

1/2 day

I only had a to work a half day today so I was able to get out and get in a 4 mile run at Bull Creek this afternoon.

Achilles

Misty and I did 7 miles at Forest Ridge today in 2:25!!  We did a fair amount of running after Misty's achilles warmed up.  The really are her "achilles heal" so far.  They are really tight for the first 2 miles or so.  I suggested she doing some easy stretching several times everyday.  We had a great time together on the trail!!!!

Cold Friday morning

Marc G and I got in almost 15 miles this morning!!  Next Monday is MLK day and being the guy that I am I usually volunteer to run a skeleton crew to service the few clients who will be working.  I was seriously using my noggin last week and preemptively set it up where I could take this morning off.  Of course it was all about getting in some running miles.  Marc has the opportunity to work overtime during the week and be off on Friday's so I let him know last week and he was able to pull the trigger.

We did the first part of SDSM loop......got to the main trail and then turned around and did the hills again but added some variation.  When we got to the beginning of powerline we turned right and went off on the trails that way.   At the bottom of cedar chip we had 12+ so we ran and walked to Lost Creek Blvd....doubled back and headed back to the HOL.  I'm pretty happy with our 3:45 time.......not too shabby for running a bunch of hills!!

Temp at beginning was 27!!

Bandera 25k

Misty and I did the Bandera 25k together last Saturday .  I'm so happy I gave her a little push into it.  She's done so well with the 100 day challenge and now bootcamp and the 3hr last month, I really felt good about it not being too much for her and it wasn't.......thankfully!!!
Misty had only been to Bandera once and that was last year to crew me and kick my butt back out on the course at the halfway mark.  You really can't appreciate the beauty of the place until you get out on the course and Misty really understood the lure once we got out on the trail.  We finished in 5:45!!  I think that's a great time considering it was mostly power walking with some running mixed in.....actually we may have ran 2-3 miles.
Misty is already looking at other events and I think she's decided to do the 10 mile at Prickly Pear in SA while I do the 50k and the 25k at Hogs Hunt in Huntsville S.P. in April.  I'll do the 50k there and try to redeem myself after my out of shape performance at Little Rocky in October.

1110

1110 is the number of miles I need to run in 2012 to get bring 2010 and 2011 back up to my 13+ years of a 20 mile per week average.  That comes to 21.3 miles per week or 92.5 miles per month......very doable!!

The last 2 years have definitely not been good for my running.  Not to mention getting into my 50's now, a natural slowdown combined with my emotional eating has me hitting the scale at an even 200lbs now.  The food does not melt off like it used to so I've got to try to get a grip on that.

The good news is that I'm still running and fairly healthy.  No major drawbacks physically.  My left knee is still a minor issue but I think it'll be alright.  Even better news is that I'm probably in better shape than 80-90% of men my age.  This week I've gotten in 7 and 4 mile runs and Misty and I have the Bandera 25k that we are hiking together this Saturday.  That course is so beautiful I've really pushed for Misty to do it with me.  I hope it ends up being a positive experience!!